March 13, 2026
Bill Mesaeh explores the pain of betrayal and the anger that follows, affirming that anger has a place while calling for responsibility over blame. He clarifies what forgiveness is—and isn’t—and urges readers not to give up on friendship.
March 15, 2021
If you want to be savvy and streetwise, read the book of Proverbs. It’s a jewelry box filled with nuggets of spiritual gold . . . a toolbox full of blue-collar common sense . . . a handbook . . .
December 29, 2019
Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in issue no. 1 (weeks 1-4; January 5-26, 2020) of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ________ Lesson Aim: Resist the urge to do God’s will in worldly ways. ________ By Mark Scott Warren Wiersbe said, “Whenever God works, he chooses the right worker, uses the right plan, and acts at the right time” (Expository Outlines on the Old Testament). But what happens if the right worker needs a
May 22, 2019
From After Class Podcast It’s time Christians stop obsessing about fitness and start focusing on more important things in life—like sin. This is why we’ve developed an innovative, always-on-call spiritual healthcare consultant. The Misfitbit Sinful Activity Tracker is a technologically advanced wristband that monitors your morality 24/7. Its advanced voice-recognition software detects all verbal indiscretions, including, but not limited to, swearing, yelling in anger, and taking the Lord’s name in vain. The “Super Saint Setting” can also sense white lies and white curses like “darn,” “shoot,” and “heck.” Its übersensitive microphone detects when you are listening to inappropriate music, hanging
May 22, 2017
Dr. Mark Scott wrote this treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson. Scott teaches preaching and New Testament at Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri. This lesson treatment is published in the May 21, 2017, issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Mark Scott God”s love is pervasive (expanding, spreading, and permeating). Jonah”s love was narrow, miserly, and shrunken. The angry prophet desperately needed to get on the same page with the Lord when it came to his wide embrace of all people. That is the story of Jonah 4. Last week”s lesson dealt with forgiveness. Jonah could announce
February 16, 2017
By Bob Mink I Wish Jesus Hadn”t Said That Stephen Timmis Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014 The Hard Sayings of Jesus F.F. Bruce Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983 Some book titles get your attention by implying they are about something you may not agree with. When I was a youth minister in the 1970s, I used Fritz Ridenour”s book How to be a Christian Without Being Religious, and was taken to task by a mother who misunderstood the title. Steve Timmis”s book, I Wish Jesus Hadn”t Said That (Zondervan, 2013), does the same thing. The title is his initial response to
November 2, 2016
By Jim Tune There seems to be a lot of anger in our culture. People are seething about something . . . or everything! The economy, politics, the culture war””the list goes on. The “rant” has become a contemporary art form. And the church seems to have followed right along. We”re angry too. We”re mad at liberals, Democrats, Muslims, Hollywood, and homosexuals. New York Times op-ed writer Tim Kreider calls this modern epidemic “outrage porn”: So many letters to the editors and comments on the Internet have this . . . tone of thrilled vindication: these are people who have
October 15, 2016
By Jennifer Johnson I am angry about the state of our union. And I”m not alone. But anger isn”t the core problem. In January, the Esquire/NBC News “American Rage Survey” reported that half of Americans are angrier than they were a year ago. In February, BBC.com reported that 69 percent of Americans are either “very angry” or “somewhat angry” about “the way things are going” in the United States. As I write this, the day after the Orlando nightclub shooting, I”m sure the numbers are even higher. We are angry about climate change, about those who deny climate change exists,
January 8, 2016
This list of parenting resources is a sidebar to Peter Buckland’s article, “Parents Are Primary.” ________ By Peter Buckland FOR PARENTS Teaching Your Children Healthy Sexuality: A Biblical Approach to Prepare Them for Life, by Jim Burns (Bloomington: Bethany House, 2008) This book provides valuable information for Christian parents regarding the sexual information that children need to know and how the biblical sexual ethic may be presented to them. SOS Help for Emotions: Managing Anxiety, Anger, and Depression, by Lynn Clark (Bowling Green: SOS Programs and Parent Press, revised in 2014) Practical steps are provided that enable parents to help
July 8, 2015
By Jim Tune German Anabaptist teacher Hans Hut endured the heat of persecution when he refused to have his child baptized. He was arrested in 1527 during a meeting with other Anabaptist leaders in Augsburg, Germany. Hut was tortured horribly, and died of asphyxiation during a fire that consumed the Augsburg prison on December 6, 1527. The next day, the authorities sentenced his dead body to death and burned him. A man of deep convictions and reverence for God, Hut described the holiness of God: “God tastes like fire.” God appears as flame frequently in Scripture, consuming at one moment,
July 19, 2014
By Dick Alexander (From our series “The Best or Worst Advice I”ve Ever Received.”) I was in the middle of a long period of what seemed like relentless attack from people in a church I served, when a friend advised me my critics were not the enemy, but prisoners of the enemy. It set me free””free from we-they polarization. Free from choosing sides. Free to see them with compassion. The harshest critics were prisoners. In general, they didn”t enjoy life. They were prisoners of bitterness, anger, and unresolved past hurts. His advice, the best advice I”ve received, set me free
October 31, 2011
This week”s treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson (for November 6) is written by David Eichenberger, a graduate of Lincoln (Illinois) Christian University who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. ____________ Living in Harmony with Others (Matthew 5:17-37) By David Eichenberger (Note to teachers: The italicized sections are questions designed to help involve your students in the learning process.) Â A much-quoted rhyme provides a fitting description of the challenge of living at peace with those around us: To dwell above with saints we love O, that will be glory; But to dwell below with those we know”” Well, that”s another
October 17, 2011
By Mark A. Taylor Two things amaze and encourage me when I read the story of God”s call to Moses. The first is his excuse making in response to God”s clear commands. The second is God”s equally persistent patience in the face of this whining. Initially we might understand the reluctance of Moses at the burning bush. Who wouldn”t have been surprised by what God proposed to this murderer in exile turned shepherd? Nothing in his decades of sheep tending in Midian would have appeared on the résumé for nation-deliverer. So when God said, “You will convince Pharaoh to free
April 7, 2026
John B. Penrose Jr
April 7, 2026
David Faust
March 27, 2026
Rick Cherok